2017 highlights: Bringing flexible displays to market

Desi Aleksandrova, Marketing Communications Manager

December 18, 2017

It has been a busy 2017 here at FlexEnable and we have achieved some major breakthroughs. They have led to great engagement with clients and partners during the year, and have given us the opportunity to work on many exciting projects.

Below we share some of FlexEnable’s 2017 highlights.

Large area, low cost flexible OLCD

In January 2017 FlexEnable revealed a 12.1” glass-free, conformable organic liquid crystal display (OLCD). This breakthrough has proven the scalability of our organic thin-film transistor technology platform to large area flexible displays. In fact, there is no limitation to the size of flexible OLCD - it can be made as small or as large as the manufacturing equipment used for flat panel displays allows, opening the door to applications like digital signage and large area displays for automotive and home consumer electronics. It also satisfies the high brightness and long lifetime display requirements for these applications. Moreover, due to the use of low-cost plastics and the low-temperature manufacturing process, FlexEnable’s technology is the lowest cost flexible display technology available.

Following this breakthrough, we have collaborated with Yanfeng Automotive Interiors (YFAI) to provide a conformable 12.1” OLCD for YFAI’s XiM17 autonomous vehicle interior concept that made its world debut at the 2017 North American Auto Show in Detroit. The OLCD has been incorporated into a car’s A-pillar to allow for greater visibility and safety.

More recently, a 12.1” OLCD prototype has been integrated into the display on a remote robot in an Internet of Abilities (IoA) solution developed by Toppan Printing (in collaboration with NTT DOCOMO and Rekimoto Lab of Tokyo University). The goal is to provide the audience with a more realistic experience and make them more comfortable with robots. The demo was shown at the 5G World Forum in Tokyo in November 2017 (hosted by NTT DOCOMO and National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation).

Best of Sensors Expo Award

In July 2017, together with partner ISORG, we won the 2017 Best of Sensors Expo - Silver Applications Award. This award acknowledges the high-resolution, ultra-thin, 500 dpi flexible image sensor developed by FlexEnable and ISORG. With a thickness less than 0.3 mm, the sensor offers system integrators unique advantages in performance and compactness. Due to its large-area sensing and high-resolution image quality, the sensor is highly suited to biometric applications from fingerprint scanners and smartcards to mobile phones, where accuracy and robustness as well as cost-competiveness are key.

Transferring flexible OLCD into mass production

Undoubtedly, the biggest success for us in 2017 has been the technology transfer and licensing agreement we signed with Truly Semiconductors. Truly is the first display manufacturer to adopt FlexEnable’s OTFT platform for OLCD. With support from our engineering team, Truly is currently implementing the processes into its existing LCD production lines in Shanwei, China. OLCD volume production is expected in 2018.

A glimpse at 2018

There is a lot to look forward to in 2018.

While supporting our manufacturing partners to implement our technology, we are also continuing to work closely with OEM and Tier1 companies across different industries to help them develop next generation product designs using flexible display and sensors. There are many exciting applications and use cases our technology can enable that cannot be realised with glass-based technology.

We are also preparing to exhibit at major events including MWC in Barcelona and Display Week in Los Angeles, and will be speaking at many conferences. Visit our events page to find out more and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter for the latest updates.

If you’d like to share your highlights – on our tech, the industry, or future applications – please get in touch at info@flexenable.com.